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Actually, that's the reason a lot of startups and solo developers prefer non-Google solutions, even though the quality of Gemini 2.5 Pro is insanely high. The G
by behnamoh 1y ago
Actually, that's the reason a lot of startups and solo developers prefer non-Google solutions, even though the quality of Gemini 2.5 Pro is insanely high. The Google Cloud Dashboard is a mess, and they haven't fixed it in years. They have Vertex that is supposed to host some of their models, but I don't understand what's the difference between that and their own cloud. And then you have two different APIs depending on the level of your project: This is literally the opposite of what we would expect from an AI provider where you start small and regardless of the scale of your project, you do not face obstacles. So essentially, Google has built an API solution that does not scale because as soon as your project gets bigger, you have to switch from the Google AI Studio API to the Vertex API. And I find it ridiculous because their OpenAI compatible API does not work all the time. And a lot of tools that rely on that actually don't work.
Google's AI offerings that should be simplified/consolidated:
- Jules vs Gemini CLI?
- Vertex API (requires a Google Cloud Account) vs Google AI Studio API
Also, since Vertex depends on Google Cloud, projects get more complicated because you have to modify these in your app [1]:
```
# Replace the `GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT` and `GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION` values
# with appropriate values for your project.
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION=global
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=True
```
[1]: https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/docs/start/quickstarts/quickstart-multimodal#gen-ai-sdk-for-python https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/docs/start/...
- tarvaina 1y agoIt took me a while but I think the difference between Vertex and Gemini APIs is that Vertex is meant for existing GCP users and Gemini API for everyone else. If you are already using GCP then Vertex API works like everything else there. If you are not, then Gemini API is much easier. But they really should spell it out, currently it's really confusing. Also they should make it clearer which SDKs, documents, pricing, SLAs etc apply to each. I still get confused when I google up some detail and end up reading the wrong document.
- fooster 1y agoThe other difference is that reliability for the gemini api is garbage, whereas for vertex ai it is fantastic.
- nikcub 1y agoThe key to running LLM services in prod is setting up Gemini in Vertex, Anthropic models on AWS Bedrock and OpenAI models on Azure. It's a completely different world in terms of uptime, latency and output performance.
- shpat 1y agoHave you had any luck getting your Claude quota bumped on Bedrock? I tried working through AWS support but got nowhere. Gave up and used Vertex + Gemini
- com2kid 1y agoDoes OpenAI on azure still have that insane latency for content filtering? Last time I checked it added a huge # to time to first token, making azure hosting for real time scenarios impractical.
- shakna 1y agoYes. Unless you convince MS to let you at the "Provisioned Throughput" model. Which also requires being big enough for sales to listen to you.
- nprateem 1y agoWhich would all be fine except some models like Imagen 4 only work on vertex.
- happyopossum 1y ago> I think the difference between Vertex and Gemini APIs is that Vertex is meant for existing GCP users and Gemini API for everyone else Nahh, not really - Vertex has a HUGE feature surface, and can run a ton of models and frameworks. Gemini happens to be one of them, but you could also run non-google LLMs, non LLM stuff, run notebooks against your dataset, manage data flow and storage, and and and… Gemini is “just” an LLM.
- throwaway1550 1y agoEx-googler here. Google shipped their org hierarchy here. Vertex API is managed by Vertex team in Google Cloud. This is a production ready infrastructure that is SRE managed but usually one or two steps from the bleeding edge. Gemini API, Jules etc are built by Google Labs. This is close to the bleeding edge but not as production ready.
- coredog64 1y agoAt least a bunch of people got promotions for demonstrating scope via the release of a top-level AI product.
- cperry 1y ago@sachinag is afk but wanted me to flag that he's on point for fixing the Cloud Dashboard - it's WIP!
- WXLCKNO 1y agoYou guys should try my AGI test. It's easy, you just ask the best Google Model to create a script that outputs the number of API calls made to the Gemini API in a GCP account. 100% fail rate so far.
- kridsdale3 1y agoTo be fair, no human can do this either.
- sachinag 1y agoThanks Chris! "The Google Cloud Dashboard is a mess, and they haven't fixed it in years." Tell me what you want, and I'll do my best to make it happen. In the interim, I would also suggest checking out Cloud Hub - https://console.cloud.google.com/cloud-hub/ https://console.cloud.google.com/cloud-hub/ - this is us really rethinking the level of abstraction to be higher than the base infrastructure. You can read more about the philosophy and approach here: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/application-development/an-application-centric-ai-powered-cloud?e=48754805 https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/application-developme...
- behnamoh 1y agoOne more suggestion: Please remove the need to make a project before we can use Gemini API. That seriously impedes our motivation in using Gemini for one-off scripts and proof-of-concept products where creating a project is overkill. Ideally what I want is this: I google "gemini api" and that leads me to a page where I can login using my Google account and see the API settings. I create one and start using it right away. No extra wizardry, no multiple packages that must be installed, just the gemini package (no gauth!) and I should be good to go.
- irthomasthomas 1y agoI just use gemini-pro via openrouter API. No painful clicking around on the cloud to find the billing history.
- behnamoh 1y agobut you won't get the full API capabilities of Gemini (like setting the safety level).